Friday, May 1, 2009

WHAT A FRIEND WE HAVE IN JESUS




I have just returned from Eucharistic Adoration. Just being in the presence of Our Lord and Our God for even a few minutes can change your whole life. What are we talking about? When I was an Evangelical Protestant I would not have understood this at all. I would have thought that it was strange, I might have even thought that it was idolatrous.

What are we talking about? Catholics believe that at the Mass the bread and wine become literally the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, when the sacred elements are present in the tabernacle in the Church, God is more than spiritually present, He is sacramentally present, body, blood, soul, and divinity. Eucharistic adoration is time spent praying in the sacramental presence of Our Lord Jesus Christ. As another of my favorite people, Father Benedict Groeschel, has said, Eucharistic Adoration is the Crown Jewel of Catholic Devotions. Most of the saints have been devoted to spending time with the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.
As Pope Innocent VI said:

"Hail true body that was born of Mary, the Virgin, that truly suffered and was offered in sacrifice on the cross for man and that gave forth true blood from its pierced side. Be to us a foretaste of Heaven when we are in death's agony, kind, loving, and gentle Jesus, son of Mary."

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